{"podcast":{"title":"IFS Zooms In: The Economy","slug":"ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","podcast_index_feed_id":638796,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/ifs-zooms-in-coronavirus-and-the-economy","website_url":"https://www.ifs.org.uk/podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/1611670691757-acb69bdbfa16df8b84d3357b86921a11.jpeg","author":"Institute for Fiscal Studies","episode_count":186,"summary":"Step beyond the headlines with in-depth, independent analysis from the experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Hosted by IFS Director Helen Miller, this podcast brings you objective insights from the researchers shaping the debate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-12T04:19:55.371670+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796"},"episode":{"title":"How to fix VAT","slug":"how-to-fix-vat","published_at":"2025-11-04T16:13:19+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/how-to-fix-vat","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","url":"https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/e/690a1509b27ff20cebbf050e/media.mp3","summary":"Why are chocolate-covered shortbread and plain shortbread taxed differently? The UK’s VAT system is full of bizarre inconsistencies that make it complex, inefficient, and unfair. In this episode, we dive into how VAT works, why economists tend to love it in theory, and why the UK’s version falls short in practice. We explore zero and reduced rates, exemptions, myths about regressivity, and discuss how simplifying VAT could make it fairer and less distortionary. In the fourth and final episode of our tax mini-series, Helen, Ben and Stuart look at how to fix one of the UK’s most important and misunderstood taxes. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Why are chocolate-covered shortbread and plain shortbread taxed differently? The UK’s VAT system is full of bizarre inconsistencies that make it complex,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2668,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/how-to-fix-vat/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/how-to-fix-vat.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}